I have to say I’m so relieved to know that Nakamura-san is back in action.
Guess who dropped into Tomei Powered today, Naoki Namakura the man himself, along with Takuya Hamakawa-san of Car Studio (D-Max). So, what are the plans for 2011 you wonder? Nakamura-san has confirmed that he will be competing this year. Not in D1, but in another series. What most people don’t know is that Naoki Nakamura is using Tomei Powered products in the cars he uses for competition and street.
Having some spare time on my hands over the Christmas break means I can now sort through my images from Japan. To be honest I haven’t even had the chance to look through even a quarter of the photos I captured.
The first event we had planned to watch was the final round of the MSC Challenge for 2010. For years and years I have dreamt about spectating a specific team that generally take part in MSC, which of course is Team Magician. Early in the morning during the practice sessions I setup my camera and positioned myself in a spot to which allowed me to shoot the entries. Looking through the viewfinder, tweaking settings to suit the conditions, the Team Magician R32 suddenly made it’s way into my frame.
I immediately swiveled my camera around and took this photo of him exiting the final corner, almost clipping the pit wall.
After the first practice session came to an end I made my way up to the pits to see what other cars were competing. The first car that I saw was the Team Magician JZX110. There is no other explanation other than that I was lost for words. I literally stood there swearing inside my head. It is just a completely different feeling seeing these machines in person.
I really do have a thing for stickers, I purchased quite a collection during the trip. Check out all the stickers on the rear window!
As I wondered around, I noticed the R32 had been driven off on a truck. I was really thankful I got some shots of it before it left. As one team car left, another entered. This S13 was now the second member representing Team Magician.
After paying 500Y and receiving my media vest I climbed 4 flights of stairs to the top of the office building. From here you have such an amazing view looking down onto the last corner. This is by far one of the most favourite shots I’ve ever taken.
After some Yakisoba, the Tripple Class began. One of my mates from Melbourne was off borrowing my big lens to shoot girls. At this point in time I was stressing as I only had my 24mm on me. I also noticed another Magician team member in the middle of the pack, being the ever so famous S14.
I eventually found him and my lens. Here is a shot with the 400mm of Team Magician showing how it’s done. I tried my best to achieve the ‘MSC’ style photograph. Bit of a higher shutter and tight in the frame, this image is pretty much straight off the camera.
In between sessions I ran across the track into the infield along with the official MSC photographer. I introduced myself and we chatted for a little while before the competition began. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I watched a couple of laps and just couldn’t get over how close I was to the action. I was standing on the inside of the competition corner. It was actually really scary, but it was all worth this shot!
Lap after lap, getting closer and closer.
Both silvias got knocked out quite early in the competition, which was unfortunate for them. On the other hand the JZX was powering on.
The sun had began setting behind me which gave me some really even lighting! Here is the JZX in one of the final battles of the afternoon. In my previous post I was talking about the Run Free AE86’s which did extremely well in the competition knocking out the JZX from Team Magician. This was the best battle of the day.
This would of have to be one of the best days of my life. Shooting a MSC round in Japan at Mobara Twin Circuit with teams such as Team Magician. It really doesn’t get much better than this.
